© WTA Publishing
The Author
During his professional career, David Woods worked as a journalist, a press spokesman
in Whitehall and for the World Trade Organization in Geneva, a communications director
in the City of London, a publisher and a consultant on international trade. He now
devotes his time to research and writing books, principally on the history of Chile and the
roles played there by Europeans.
The first book, The Bombardment of Paradise, was published in 2011 and, in Spanish, in
2013. Woods has now completed a much broader account of the Europeans who
voyaged to the west coast of South America as immigrants, entrepreneurs, naval officers,
explorers, farmers and so on, from the Spanish Conquistadores onwards. The book
Valparaiso Bound! was published in October 2016.
Woods’s special interest in Chile intensified after he and his wife bought an old house in
the UNESCO World Heritage port city of Valparaiso. During five years of restoration work,
and since, he was able to research aspects of the European roots of the country in
museums and archives across Chile as well as in France, the United States and the
United Kingdom.
David Woods has also written a satirical novel, called Sustaining Dugoud, humourously
reflecting his experiences working in internatiional organizations. Apart from their
frequent visits to South America, David and his wife live with their six cats near Aix-en-
Provence, France. He has recently managed public exhibitions of engravings - including
both modern and classic works - at the Chateau de Lourmarin nearby.